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July 19, 2021

Los Angeles - The USC Equity Research Institute (ERI) announces today that we are the recipient of a research award from California 100, an ambitious statewide initiative to envision and shape the long-term success of the state. The California 100 research award, along with technical assistance from the Institute For The Future, will enable ERI to evaluate current facts, origins, and future trends on immigrant integration in California’s next century. ERI’s research will be led by ERI Director Manuel Pastor and ERI Postdoctoral Scholar Thai V. Le, and is set to begin this summer. 

“Immigrants are essential to California’s history, growth, and diverse culture. At the Equity Research Institute, we are excited to continue our data-driven work in uplifting immigrant communities and their stories as part of the California 100 Initiative. In collaboration with this initiative, our research on immigrant integration will help create a more just and equitable future for immigrants in California and beyond," says Thai V. Le. ERI will produce reports on immigrant integration in the Golden State: past, present, and future.

Professor Manuel Pastor notes, “California is usually thought of as an immigrant-rich state, something that reflects our recent past but has been changing. Around a quarter of the state’s population is foreign-born and about half of our children have at least one immigrant parent. This means that paying attention to integration – to the pace at which immigrant families at all levels can succeed economically, participate civically, and educate themselves and their children – is the key forward-looking challenge for the state.”  

The research will be complete by December 2021 and will lead to a set of policy alternatives for California’s future. The policy alternatives will be developed in conjunction with research teams from 12 other issue areas, and will be coordinated by Henry Brady, director of research of the California 100 Initiative and former Dean of the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California Berkeley. “We are excited to work with our research partners that are international experts in their issue areas,” Brady noted. “We will not only develop a comprehensive knowledge base on various policy issues, but we will also offer actionable recommendations for the California 100 Commission and the larger public to consider.” 

The California 100 Commission is a multi-generational advisory body that will develop recommendations for the state’s future and test those recommendations across a broad set of policy areas by directly engaging Californians. Karthick Ramakrishnan, executive director of the California 100 Initiative, is tasked with assembling and engaging the Commission, and ensuring that the research stream intersects with the initiative’s other activities, including advanced technology, policy innovation, and stakeholder engagement. “From climate change, to aging populations and rapid changes in industry, California will face enormous challenges in the years ahead,” Ramakrishnan noted. “We are fortunate to be able to draw on the deep talent of researchers in California to produce evidence and recommendations that will inform robust public engagement and set the state on a strong, long-term trajectory for success.”

About the California 100 Research Grants

California 100 is a new statewide initiative being incubated at the University of California and Stanford University focused on inspiring a vision and strategy for California’s next century that is innovative, sustainable, and equitable. The initiative will harness the talent of a diverse array of leaders through research, policy innovation, advanced technology, and stakeholder engagement. As part of its research stream of work, California 100 is sponsoring 13 research projects focused on the following issue areas:

• Advanced technology and basic research
• Arts, culture, and entertainment
• Education and workforce, from cradle to career and retirement
• Economic mobility and inequality
• Energy, environment and natural resources 
• Federalism and foreign policy
• Fiscal reform
• Governance, media, and civil society
• Health and wellness
• Housing and community development
• Immigrant integration
• Public safety and criminal justice reform
• Transportation and urban planning

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The USC Equity Research Institute (formerly known as two centers, the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity and the Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration) seeks to use data and analysis to contribute to a more powerful, well-resourced, intersectional, and intersectoral movement for equity. ERI produces research and facilitates discussions on issues of the economic, environmental, and social conditions facing low-income communities and immigrant populations—and the social movements seeking to change those realities. We see ourselves as part of an ecosystem of change; our role is to conduct rigorous research that is relevant to public policy concerns and to do so in collaboration with institutions that seek to reach and engage directly-affected communities in the public discussion.